From 2009-2012 I paid off 28,000 of my own debt. During that time I moved from Long Beach back to Whittier, met the man who is now my husband, and learned tons about how to manage my money. I'm back to blogging now that I'm married and my husband and I work to pay off his student loans. We're adding a baby to the mix this year, to keep things interesting. I don't own a home (and I'm just past 30) but I've come a long way on my financial journey!

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

So, besides planning my own wedding this July, I am also a bridesmaid in my dear friend Shelley's wedding at the end of July (just three weeks after mine). Her wedding is in Oregon, so my fiance (who will be my husband by then!!) and I will be traveling to the wedding shortly after our honeymoon.

I'm thrilled to be a part of Shelley's day, and also thrilled that I have found some ways to save money as a bridesmaid/guest at her wedding. I thought I'd share a few tips for those of you with out-of-town weddings to attend this summer.

First, I bought my bridesmaid dress used from www.bridesmaidtrade.com. I'm not getting any kickback from them for posting this, but I wanted to share this resource. My dress is from David's Bridal, where it would have cost $99+tax. I scored this one for $65 flat. I tried it on in the store so I know my size, and this one was worn once, no alterations made. Seems pretty cool (I'll confirm that when my dress arrives in the next week or so). If the dress does not come as described, you have 48 hours to mail it back for a full-refund.Savings: $35

Next, Freddie came up with an idea to save us more money. I will fly up on Thursday morning to help and hang out with Shelley. I bought a one-way ticket. Freddie is going to drive his car up to Oregon (a 15 hour drive, yikes) that same day. He'll be there for the weekend, and then we'll drive home together Sunday. We may stay at a cheap hotel on the way home, just to break up the driving. This saves on his plane ticket, my ticket home, and we won't need a rental car. Even after gas, we'll definitely come out ahead on this deal.Savings: $200-$250

Finally, I started researching places to stay. At first I looked at hotels, but then the bride suggested I look at cottages for rent. The wedding is in wine country, so there are lots of cute places available. I found a two-bedroom, one bath cottage that sleeps four for $135/night. I found two friends that can share it with us, so it ends up being an amazing deal! It also has a kitchen, so we can save money by cooking breakfasts and lunches at the cottage rather than eating out. Score!Savings: $100 (plus whatever we will save on food...that is a looser number, but definitely cheaper than eating out every meal).

So, we are saving between $335-$385 so far! I'm definitely happy about this, especially since we will just be coming back from our honeymoon and money will be tight. Plus, I think the cottage will be a great place to stay!